News Release Number: STScI-2012-29

Chance Alignment Between Galaxies Mimics a Cosmic Collision

June 14, 2012: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope shows a rare view of a pair of overlapping galaxies,
called NGC 3314. The two galaxies look as if they are colliding, but they are
actually separated by tens of millions of light-years, or about ten times the
distance between our Milky Way and the neighboring Andromeda galaxy. The chance
alignment of the two galaxies, as seen from Earth, gives a unique look at the
silhouetted spiral arms in the closer face-on spiral, NGC 3314A. The motion of the
two galaxies indicates that they are both relatively undisturbed and that they are
moving in markedly different directions.

The color composite was produced from exposures taken in blue and red light with
Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The pair of galaxies lie roughly 140
million light-years from Earth, in the direction of the southern hemisphere
constellation Hydra.